Archaeological Monitoring at No.1 Church Farm Cottage, Great Witchingham, Norfolk

Archaeological monitoring at No.1 Church Farm Cottage, Great Witchingham, Norfolk. Prepared for Mrs A.Benton Giles Emery February 2011 Report No: 11 NHES Event No: ENF125612 Job Ref: NVC/2010/GE52 OASIS ID: norvicar1-93215 www.norvicarchaeology.com 07759016372 [email protected] NO.1 CHURCH FARM COTTAGE, GREAT WITCHINGHAM, NORFOLK. Contents 1.0 Introduction 2 2.0 Summary of Results 2 3.0 Geology and Topography 4 4.0 Brief Archaeological and Historical Background 4 5.0 Methodology 5 6.0 Results 6 7.0 Finds Analysis 9 Pottery 9 Fired Clay 10 Other Artefacts 10 8.0 Conclusions 14 9.0 Acknowledgements 15 10.0 Bibliography 15 Appendix 1a: Context Summary 21 Appendix 1b: OASIS feature summary table 22 Appendix 2a: Finds by Context 22 Appendix 2b: NHER finds summary table 22 Appendix 3: Pottery 23 Appendix 4: Catalogue of other artefacts 24 Figures Figure 1 Site location plan 3 Figure 2 Trench location plan 16 Figure 3 Sunken steps to blocked doorway 17 Figure 4 North-east end of trench 18 Figure 5 South-west end of trench 19 Figure 6 Sections A and B 20 Plates Plate 1 General Site shot (Pre-works) Cover Plate 2 General Site shot (Pre-works) 5 Plate 3 General Site shot (Post-excavation ) 6 Plate 4 Ditch ([07]) 7 Plate 5 Grave features 7 Plate 6 Sunken Steps to Blocked Doorway 8 Plate 7 Excavation of the child burial 14 NVC REF: GE52 1 NO.1 CHURCH FARM COTTAGE, GREAT WITCHINGHAM, NORFOLK. Archaeological Monitoring at No.1 Church Farm Cottage, Great Witchingham, NR9 5PL. Location: Great Witchingham Grid Ref: TG 1035 2007 NHES Event No: ENF125612 Date of fieldwork: 4th-6th January 2011 1.0 Introduction Norvic Archaeology was commissioned by Mrs A. Benton, on behalf of the cottage owner, to undertake archaeological monitoring of groundworks associated with the creation of a sunken path with retaining wall at the side of a No.1 Church Farm Cottage (a Grade II Listed building which abuts the cemetery of St Mary’s Churchyard) as part of a programme of internal and external alterations (Figure 1, below). The archaeological monitoring was undertaken to fulfil a planning condition (Planning application No. 20101108) set by Broadland District Council and in accordance with a brief issued by the Historic Environment Service (HES Ref: CNF42989). The aim of the monitoring work was to preserve by record the presence/absence, date, nature, and extent of any buried archaeological remains and features. This report presents a brief description of the methodology followed, the results and the archaeological interpretation of the monitoring. On completion of the project, the site archive will be offered for long term deposition with Norfolk Museums and Archaeology Service, following the relevant policy on archiving standards. 2.0 Summary of Results A fairly substantial ditch of probable medieval date was discovered at the north-eastern end of the trench. The ditch is on the same alignment as the existing church boundary and roadway and may be a precursor of either. An area of hitherto unknown and unmarked graves was discovered close to the south-west corner of the cottage. Some of these graves contained evidence of long since decayed coffins and included the burial of a young child. This burial, and at least one other, had been disturbed during construction activity associated with the cottage‟s foundations; when a large volume of firm sandy-clay was imported on to the site to form a building platform prior to construction. A layer of redeposited sand and soil below the topsoil in the same area contained skeletal fragments of, at minimum, one adult and one child. These remains may indicate further disturbance to burials in the vicinity at some time from around the early 20th century The partly exposed flint and mortar foundations of the cottage confirm observations of the masonry above ground; that the rear of the building has seen various phases of alterations and extension work. The trench also revealed the sunken steps to a blocked doorway at the south-east corner of the cottage. Soil alongside the cottage contained late Victorian to early 20th century domestic rubbish. Artefacts recovered include a bone handled toothbrush, various glass bottles; including a bottle for „Edward‟s “Uzon” Brilliantine‟ hair oil, a jar for „Singleton‟s Eye Ointment‟, a miniature doll‟s chamber pot and various sherds of Victorian ceramics. NVC REF: GE52 2 NO.1 CHURCH FARM COTTAGE, GREAT WITCHINGHAM, NORFOLK. N Figure 1: Site location plan Site: ENF125612 Great Witchingham Norwich Figure 1: Site Location Plan NVC REF: GE52 3 NO.1 CHURCH FARM COTTAGE, GREAT WITCHINGHAM, NORFOLK. 3.0 Geology and Topography The site is located on the northern edge of the River Wensum valley, on high ground which falls away to the south to meet the flood plain of the river at Lenwade. The underlying geology is Upper Chalk, overlain by crag material of banded sand and gravel deposits. Superficial deposits in the area are complex post-glacial tills and the site lies close to outcrops of mid Pleistocene glacio-fluvial sands and gravels. Brickearth and alluvial deposits are also recorded to the north and west of the site (British Geological Survey – Geology of Britain Viewer at a scale of 1:50000 (http://maps.bgs.ac.uk/geologyviewer_google/googleviewer.html). The sub-surface geology of the site encountered during the fieldwork can be characterised as glacio-fluvial sands with pockets of drift chalk and marl. 4.0 Brief Archaeological and Historical Background Great Witchingham is a relatively small parish to the north-west of Norwich which has a reduced modern population clustered at the centre of the parish. The modest hamlets of Foxford and Blackwater are also included in the bounds of Great Witchingham. It lies close to the larger village of Lenwade which is located to the south on the banks of the River Wensum. A parish summary compiled by Sarah Spooner (2006) is available to view on the Norfolk Heritage Explorer Website – an online resource (www.heritage.norfolk.gov.uk) - as an overview of nearly 100 records generated for Great Witchingham which give evidence of human occupation and activity for most historic periods in the form of find scatters, cropmarks, listed buildings and excavated sites. The works took place within the boundary of St Mary‟s cemetery (see NHER 7474 described below). The church dates mainly to the 14th century but may have Late Saxon origins. In the Domesday Book (1086) no distinction is made between Great Witchingham and Little Witchingham, but Witchingham is recorded as a fairly substantial and valuable settlement, with a church and an outlier in Weston Longville. The existing cottage property is a traditional style, semi-detached cottage which originally formed a terrace of three farm cottages built from c.1690 (see NHER 41070 described below). The current owners plan to restore and repair the fabric of the building, stripping back internally to reveal any remnants of original features. The following information has been sourced from the Norfolk Historic Environment Record (NHER). Sites of particular relevance or interest recorded by the Historic Environment Record which fall in close proximity to the site (c.500m radius) include: Find Spots NHER 16567: In c. 1732 a stone font or cistern was ploughed up in arable fields (c. 120m to the north-west of the site). NHER 11931: In 1976 a Neolithic polished flint axe head and bones of unknown date were found near the site of a spring collected from peat deposits during works on drainage ditches c. 380m to the north-east. NVC REF: GE52 4 NO.1 CHURCH FARM COTTAGE, GREAT WITCHINGHAM, NORFOLK. Listed Buildings NHER 41070: „Church Cottages’ or ‘Nos. 1-3 Church Farm Cottages’ – a range of late 17th century Grade II Listed cottages with substantial later alterations. Grade II Listed. Colour-washed brick, pantiled roof hipped to east; a U-plan of two storeys; tumbled parapet gables; windows 19th to 20th century; stacks at gables and off centre in main range; fragments of pilasters and string courses. The gabled wing to north has a moulded brick cornice. NHER 7474: St Mary’s Church, Great Witchingham - a medieval parish church, which may date back to the Late Saxon period (a Grade I Listed Building).. The stone church dates mainly to the 14th century, and was restored in the 19th century. The 15th century Seven Sacrament font is one of the best examples of this kind of font in the country, and retains much of its original medieval paint. NHER 41182: Church Farm - A 17th century brick farmhouse, with parapetted gables with brick tumbling. The nearby threshing barn dates from the 18th century. Grade II Listed Buildings. NHER 41072: Glebe Farm - A mid-19th century red brick house. The house has a gabled porch, with a terracotta plaque bearing a coat of arms. Grade II Listed Building. NHER 41069: Great Witchingham House, formerly Old Rectory - a late 18th or early 19th century former rectory, with a pedimented central bay on the main façade. The nearby stable block also dates to the early 19th century. Grade II Listed Building. 5.0 Methodology Prior to the works, the ground level of the churchyard was at windowsill level, causing major problems with internal damp and to the structure of the wall. The objective of the archaeological monitoring was to record any archaeological evidence revealed during the excavation of soils to create a sunken path and the footing trench of the contiguous retaining wall. This comprised of an L shaped trench c. 13.5m in length, c. 1.5m wide and c.

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